How to paint creatively from photos
What you'll learn
- The best way to paint from a photo
- How to use a photo as inspiration for your creativity
Requirements
- You will need paints (these can be watercolour, acrylics, pastels or oils), brushes and paper or canvas. Also a sketchbook or paper, and pencils or pens.
Description
This course will help you to improve your painting, especially when working from photos. It will also help you to develop your own unique style.
My aim is to give you an easy five step framework that will enable you to become creative with any photo. By using the photo as a starting point, as an inspiration, I will show you how to develop your painting in a way that is unique to you.
I'll demonstrate how to get several compositions from one photo, how to focus in on what inspires you, and how to use this to form strong tonal images that will be the backbone of your painting. I will then show you how to use what you have learned to create a piece of art that is eye-catching and painterly.
Find out how to paint with just a small selection of colors, how to draw accurately and simply, how to express yourself in you art, and how to be free from the tyranny of copying! (This course is not for those who want to paint the photo exactly as it is.)
There are demonstrations to follow and some assignments that will help you to develop your skills.
You will need a small selection of paints, either watercolor, oil, gouache or acrylics.
I demonstrate using water mixable oils and watercolors, but my methods are easily transferable to any medium.
I suggest the following colors, but don't worry if you don't have them all. These are just suggestions but you can use whatever colors you have at home. My suggestions are:
Two blues - ultramarine and cerulean
two reds - cadmium red (or pyrrole red), and alizarin crimson (or primary magenta)
two yellows - lemon yellow and cadmium yellow medium
two earth colors - yellow ochre (or raw sienna), and burnt sienna
You will also needsomething to paint on - good quality watercolor paper, or for oils use MDF board or canvas.
A variety of brushes
A sketchbook or drawing paper and a 5B pencil
I provide photos to work from, but please also use any photos you have at home that inspire you!
By the end of the course you will have all the skills you need to create stunning and original paintings. You will be beginning your journey of developing a style that is unique to you. And you will never be stuck for ideas of what to paint next!
Who this course is for:
- Beginner or intermediate painters who want to improve their art.
Featured review
Instructor
- 4.4 Instructor Rating
- 2,682 Reviews
- 12,454 Students
- 10 Courses
I have taught painting for many years, both in adult education classes and also over the internet. Through my online courses I have taught thousands of people to paint since 2005. I have lead a number of painting holidays in the UK and overseas, write regularly for Leisure Painter magazine in the UK, and for a short time I was an instructor with Derwent Pencils. For five years I worked in ceramics, painting large tiled wall murals to commission.
I am originally from England, but now live in southern Spain with my lovely wife and two dogs.
My interest in painting goes back to my childhood, and I have learned throughout my life the skills and ideas that have kept me in employment and which I now hope to pass on to you. I love working in watercolors and gouache, and also in oils and acrylics. Each of these requires a different way of working, but I always aim to keep my paintings lively and fresh. I always want to convey something of the heart to anyone looking at my paintings.
The exercises and painting projects in my courses have all been thoroughly tested over time and proved to work well, and I am constantly amazed at the speed at which students improve. I hope you enjoy learning with me!